It’s been about ten years since the release of the debut album by California’s own The Quarter After, flag wavers for all things melodious and harmonious in the vocal department, combined with the jangle,
fuzz, and noise of their soaring guitars. In the grand tradition of many rock’n’roll “brother” bands, the Quarter After is led by the two Campanella siblings- songwriter/singer Dominic and guitarist/producer Robert. Between them, singing brothers Dominic Campanella and Rob Campanella have been at least an adjunct member of just about every band in the axis between the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Beachwood Sparks and the Tyde.
The Quarter After was formed in the first year of our young century in the Campanella’s home town of Los Angeles. The brothers started jamming with a young bass guitar wizard from Ohio, Dave Koenig (ex- Brian Jonestown Massacre, currently Spindrift) and dynamic veteran east coast drummer Nelson Bragg (now in the Brian Wilson Band) to create a propulsive and sympathetic rhythm section to
complement their psychedelic/folk sounds. The quartet came of age in the burgeoning L.A. psych scene along side such bands as the Beachwood Sparks, the Warlocks, and the Tyde. After honing their live show playing gigs up and down the West Coast, The Quarter After were personally chosen by Arthur Lee and Love to be the only opening band for his first show in seven years after his release from prison. After such a triumph and upward momentum the Quarter After did what any decent band would do—break up for almost two years.
But in 2003, inspired by an invitation to open up a show with their friends, Dead Meadow, the band reformed and the reconvened in the studio to finally put together their first album. Their eponymous debut was released on Ric Menck’s Birdsong label and earned impressive reviews. The record confounded only those critics who couldn’t wrap their heads around a band that could write near-
perfect 3 minute pop songs and have them co-exist alongside extended, spiraling, psychedelic epics. One person who understood where the Quarter After were coming from happened to be musician and DJ, Steve Jones, who began spinning songs from this record on his influential and popular radio show, Jonesy’s Jukebox, on LA’s Indie 103.1 FM. Jonesy not only regularly began playing “A Parting”, one the finest examples of Dominic’s songcraft, but also the band’s nearly 12 minute psych tour-de-force “Too Much To Think About”— a highlight of The Quarter After’s live show.
The band is now looked upon by those in the know to be one of the leaders in the “3rd Wave Of Psychedelia,” and selections from the band’s first record were chosen to be on the “Turn On Your Mind” compilation put out by Psyilocybin Sounds and Northern Star Records’ “Psychedelica: Volume
II” compilation. The Quarter After recently completed a late summer tour of the U.K. with fellow compatriots the Asteroid #4, creating their biggest buzz so far and plans are currently being made for tours of North America and Europe in support of the new record. Changes Near is being released on newly revamped label the Committee To Keep Music Evil, a partnership between Rob and Anton of the BJM, manufactured and distributed through Cargo U.K.
THE QUARTER AFTER - THE QUARTER AFTER
Unsurprisingly, the self-titled debut by their own band works that circa-'67 L.A. sound, with heavy
echoes of the pre-David Axelrod the Electric Prunes, Buffalo Springfield, and various other half-forgotten exemplars of the sound, minimizing the country-rock inflections of Beachwood Sparks (only notable on the Neil Young-like "Mirror to You") or much of the slightly unhinged experimentalism of the the Brian Jonestown Massacre.
For a little less than half of the album, the brothers, along with bassist David Koenig and drummer
Nelson Bragg, do a pretty good pastiche of Sunset Strip psychedelia, kicking up a particularly lysergic head of steam on the self-explanatory "One Trip Later." If you don't like the Acid-Guitar Jams, may you have a little problem because the other half of the album, nearly a full thirty minutes, consists of three endless Acid-Guitar Jams.
"A fusion of dreamy '60's folk-pop melodies, reminiscent of the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, Love, and a few lesser known Sunset Strip Bands"
- ALTERNATIVE PRESS
The Quarter After – The Quarter After
Label: Bird Song Recordings – BSCD 101
Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 2005
Genre: Rock, Folk, World, & Country
Style: New-Psychedelic Rock, Country Rock, Folk Rock
TRACKS
01. So Far To Fall 3:42
Tambourine – Twink (M.I.A.)
Written-By – D. Koenig, D. Campanella, R. Campanella
02. Your Side Is Mine 2:43
Written-By – D. Campanella, R. Campanella
03. Always Returning 4:35
Bongos, Other [Whirly-pipe] – Andy Campanella
Written-By – D. Campanella, R. Campanella
04. A Parting 4:42
Backing Vocals – Kathrin Shorr, Mara Keagle, Miranda Lee Richards
Written-By – D. Campanella
05. Too Much To Think About 11:57
Effects [Echoplex Noise] – Anton Newcombe
Narrator [Narration] – Dad
Written-By – D. Koenig, D. Campanella, N. Bragg, R. Campanella
06. Know Me When I'm Gone 7:15
Written-By – D. Koenig, D. Campanella, N. Bragg, R. Campanella
07. Mirror To You 4:07
Steel Guitar – Farmer Dave Scher
Written-By – D. Campanella, N. Bragg, R. Campanella
08. One Trip Later 3:44
Tambourine – Twink
Written-By – D. Koenig, D. Campanella, N. Bragg, R. Campanella
09. Taken 9:16
Other [Bathroom Sink During The Quiet Part] – Brandi
Written-By – D. Campanella, R. Campanella
10. Everything Again 2:59
Written-By – D. Campanella
LINE - UP
David Koenig - Bass Guitar, Acoustic Guitar [12-String]
Nelson Bragg - Drums, Vocals, Percussion
Robert Campanella - Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals, Piano, Organ, Mellotron, Mandolin, Guitar [Dobro]
Dominic Campanella - Vocals, Guitar [12 & 6 String Electric & Acoustic Guitars], Harmonica
